The Dubai International Cricket Stadium had reworked from a cauldron to a sparsely crammed colosseum in a matter of 24 hours, however there was no reversing Hong Kong’s winless streak in Asia Cups throughout codecs as Sri Lanka consigned it to a four-wicket defeat right here on Monday.
An error-strewn efficiency, which noticed Hong Kong spill six catches, was completely summed up within the thirteenth over of Sri Lanka’s chase. Kusal Perera was dropped twice and Pathum Nissanka rubbed salt into Hong Kong’s wounds by pulling medium-pacer Ayush Shukla for 2 successive fours.
When Nissanka was reprieved at deep midwicket within the subsequent over, which introduced three extra fours, the Hong Kong fielders would have wished to dig a gap and conceal. A reverse-sweep for six from Perera off the primary ball of the fifteenth over introduced Sri Lanka’s equation right down to run-a-ball with 35 wanted.
However, Sri Lanka was within the temper to offer its followers a rousing end because it misplaced 4 wickets for eight runs in a interval of senseless batting, which began with Nissanka’s run out.
With 22 runs wanted off 16 balls, a front-foot no-ball from skipper Yasim Murtaza handed Sri Lanka the benefit once more.
Wanindu Hasaranga took a full toll on the resultant free hit, smashing it for a six down the bottom and easing Lankan nerves, earlier than guiding his staff residence with back-to-back fours.
Earlier, Hong Kong rode on Anshuman Rath’s 48 and Nizakat Khan’s unbeaten 52 to achieve 149 for 4, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to keep away from its 14th consecutive defeat within the match.
The scores: Hong Kong 149/4 in 20 overs (Anshuman Rath 48, Nizakat Khan 52 n.o., Dushmantha Chameera 2/29) misplaced to Sri Lanka 153/6 in 18.5 overs (Pathum Nissanka 68, Yasim Murtaza 2/37). Toss: Sri Lanka; PoM: Nissanka.
